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Jailhouse Rock On Time Magazine List Of 100 All-Time Songs

TIME Magazine critics have selected Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock" as one of the 100 most extraordinary pop recordings in music history... From TIME Magazine: Elvis Presley had already recorded some of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller’s hits (does the breakout cut “Hound Dog” ring a bell?), but “Jailhouse Rock” was the first song the duo wrote especially for him. Or more accurately, for the movie of the same name, in which Presley was set to star. From that ominous guitar riff to the lyrics’ sly homosexual innuendo (“No. 47 said to No. 3, ‘You the cutest jailbird I ever did see’ “), “Jailhouse Rock” charted new territory in popular music. In the film, Presley performs the song while dancing; choreographer Alex Romero took the rock star’s signature hip swivel and worked it into a routine that rivals even the most outlandish of contemporary pop music’s theatrics.

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What does TIME Magazine know anyway and for the record, Meatloaf really sang the heart out of Jailhouse Rock at some Elvis tribute show once but he still could not better the wild, rockin' '68 comeback version. Wow, Elvis really catches Fire. The original studio version is an absolute classic, Elvis is tearing those Golden vocal chords and such pure, unbounded singing, has never been matched by him or anyone else. This is Rock 'n' Roll, That's why he is The King and everyone else, great and all as they are, become mere plebs in his presence. Jailhouse Rock is a Rocker's anthem, both song and movie. WoW!!

Besides the classic "Jailhouse Rock", there are, so many more Elvis Presley's songs, that could have been on this list. How about, "That's alright Mama", which some Music critics and fans say, was the first "big bang" of Rock-n-Roll, and then 2 years later, his RCA debut with "Heartbreak Hotel" which turned the world onto Rock-n-Roll. on a global scale.

Agree with all the coments here re the greatness of this true classical Rock 'n Roll number. I only wished Elvis left it off the songlist in his later 70's concerts, more often he killed the song and couldn't even remember the correct lines. I cringe when I hear some of the later live versions of the song. A gay anthem.... oh come on, you cannot be serious!

Jailhouse Rock only sounds good when Elvis sings it.Must be the voice.If I had to pick my favourite song of all time,it would have to be Bat Out Of Hell.It has everything.I wish Elvis had heard that album.It might have pulled him around,hearing such great music,it might have inspired him to demand better songs himself.

One of the greatest rock songs of all time, great to see it recognised in this way. Imagine all the other rock stars at the time when hearing his voice on this, the reason why he is number one and 2nd place is all that is ever up for grabs.

I don't get this gay thing. There are only male prisoners, so obviously there is a reference to prisoners to have to dance together, just for the fun of it. The fifties music is full of hidden intentions. In those days one had to be careful (I prefer that more than the modern ways). Steve V, my idea exactly. It's my all time favorite anyway.

It's curious the statement of the "sly homosexual innuendo" of Jailhouse Rock. In a recent Portuguese Fan Club meeting I talked exactly about this. Paul Simpson, my favorite Elvis writer, a true fan, in his "Rough Gide to Elvis" was the first one to write, in 2002, about the, not sly, but clear homosexual content of Jailhouse Rock. And he is, in my opinion, 100% right. For me Jailhouse Rock remains a forgotten Gay Hymn, and didn’t get that much attention from Gay community probably because in the 50's rock lyrics were mainly looked as childish love songs, non sense words and always without second intentions. But a song that says ""I sure would be delight with your company, c’mon' and do the Jailhouse Rock with me..." nowadays says it all. Wonder if Presley, himself, ever caught the complete range of those verses. Nevertheless Jailhouse Rock remains, forever, as the greatest rock song/number ever made.